Whistle While You Work
Whistle While You Work is the eighth episode of the first season. Plot Stacy and the kids are hard at work inside the station cleaning up litter left by passengers. Stacy tells the kids that a messy station is a busy station, and that Shining Time Station should always be busy. Matt mentions that he never thought of people cleaning train stations, and always assumed they stayed clean by themselves. Stacy jokingly asks if he was suggesting that it was done by magic. This prompts Tanya to call out for Mr. Conductor and begs him to clean the station using his magic gold dust. A voice from above reveals Mr. Conductor busily cleaning the station clock. He replies that he never uses magic for cleaning as it doesn't the reach hard to get at places, so he uses different tools that are suited for different cleaning jobs. Before leaving to go clean his bicycle, Mr. Conductor advises everyone that elbow grease is the best tool for cleaning as it gives everything a splendid shine. Schemer arrives and immediately begins to complain about the mess, saying that Shining Time Station is anything but. He goes on to claim that the only reason people come to the station is to visit his arcade. To prove his point, he asks Stacy how many passengers passed through the station that day, to which Stacy replies seventeen. Schemer boasts that he can double that number to thirty-five, and goes on to say that the station should be advertising it's most attractive feature: entertainment. Dismissing Stacy's challenge that trains are more important, Schemer begins to openly critique the station's mural as being antiquated and a waste of valuable wall space better suited for advertising. Stacy argues that the mural is valuable as a wonderful work of art that tells the story of American history. Schemer is still unimpressed, but his thought is interrupted when he glances up at the station clock and notices that it's been cleaned. When he asks who's responsible, Stacy, Matt and Tanya each claim that they cleaned the clock. Asking why there are no ladders in sight, Schemer remarks that the station is haunted and startles himself when he backs into Stacy and the kids. Trying to save face, he leaves the station tumbling and tripping on almost everything in sight on the way out. Mr. Conductor reappears swinging a yo-yo and the kids tell him how dismissive Schemer was of their efforts to clean the station. Mr. Conductor counters by saying all things to do, whether big and small, are all important as they all help to get the job done. He elaborates by telling the story of how Gordon, James and Henry became indignant and decided to go on strike when they had to perform what they considered menial work. Since Thomas left the yard to run his branch line, the big engines have more work to do and have to shunt their own coaches. Gordon, James and Henry complain bitterly about the situation. Altogether, the engines were causing Sir Topham Hatt a great deal of trouble. Unlike tank engines, the tender engines need turntables so that they can be turn round because it's dangerous for them to travel fast backwards. One blustery day, Gordon is in a bad mood and when he goes to be turned around for his next train he unbalances the turntable and has to take the train backwards. The children mistake him as a tank engines, while Thomas and James tease him about it. James, feeling more confident of success against the wind, is spun around on the turntable like a top. That night, the big engines decide to take action and go on strike to get back at Sir Topham Hatt. Tanya later asks Mr. Conductor what going on strike meant, and it's explained as not working in order to make a point. Mr. Conductor leaves just as Schemer comes back carrying a stack of poster paper. When asked, Schemer reveals cheesy-looking adverts with equally cheesy slogans such as "Money is meant to be spent" that he begins posting all over the mural. Schemer even offers Matt a nickel to become a walking billboard. When Matt refuses, Schemer uses the same nickel to select a jukebox song to inspire him as he plasters his adverts all over the station. Inside the Jukebox, Didi and Tito are arguing about the number of planets in the solar system. Tito says there are nine planets while Didi asserts that there are eight. When Tito begins naming the planets, Didi is surprised to find Earth included, which she never thought of as a planet before, just as home. The band then begins to play their rendition of "Pop Goes the Weasel" as Schemer gleefully puts up his posters. Once the music is over, Schemer sees additional advertising space on the clock and over Mr. Conductor's house. Unfortunately for Schemer both locations are beyond his reach. Despite Matt and Tanya's protests, Schemer leaves the station saying that he knows a guy who'll be able to help him. The kids cry out for Mr. Conductor to warn him about Schemer's intentions. Mr. Conductor is not impressed by what he hears and vanishes just as Schemer returns. Schemer is accompanied by Ed, an incredibly tall man whose great height make the kids gape in awe. Schemer tells Ed to place a poster over the clock. As he's about to do so, Mr. Conductor appears with a seltzer bottle and unleashes a jet of water into Ed's face. Ed is naturally upset and accuses Schemer of playing pranks. Schemer pleads innocence and asks the children who did it. Matt answers truthfully that it was the little man who lives in the station to an incredulous Schemer. After Tanya hands Ed a cloth to wipe his face, he's able to get a good look at and is complimentary of the clock and mural. He takes down one of the adverts to see more of the mural, much to Schemer's consternation. Stacy arrives, happily explaining how she met a group of boy scouts on their way to Pelican Falls who were asking all sorts of questions about the station. Stacy becomes incensed when she suddenly notices the posters covering the mural and orders Schemer to take them down. Matt then introduces her to Ed. Stacy is taken aback by his height, but quickly recovers to quip that it's a very short name for such a tall person as she introduces herself. Ed is very curious and asks what goes on in the station. Tanya answers that trains come and go, and when Ed asks about where do they go, Stacy mentions Doodle Haven. Ed expresses an interest to go there while Stacy goes behind the ticket counter to get him a ticket. Stacy comments that it would have to be a tall train to accommodate Ed, but he reveals that he's just a normal-sized man walking on stilts. Stacy then escorts Ed to the station platform as Schemer complains that he now has to look for another man on stilts. Mr. Conductor reappears as soon as Schemer leaves, saying he feels bad for squirting water in Ed's face, but that he could not allow him to cover up his home with Schemer's posters. Tanya asks why Mr. Conductor couldn't use his magic to smash the posters. Mr. Conductor replies that he couldn't can't make muscles from magic, so he would have been trapped and would not be able to tell the children about what happened when Henry, Gordon and James began their strike. At Knapford station, there is no sign of the morning train and the passengers are angry. Gordon, James and Henry refuse to move out of their shed, claiming that tender engines don't shunt coaches. Sir Topham Hatt tries to ease the situation by asking Edward to do the shunting. That day the trains ran as usual, but the big engines hissed steam rudely at Edward and make him sad. Sir Topham Hatt decides that he must bring a new tank engine to the yard to fix the problem. He visited a workshop and brought the new tank engine back to yard. Sir Topham Hatt names him Percy and Edward taught him what he had to do. Sir Topham Hatt then decides to put Edward and Thomas in charge of the main line, while Percy takes care of the branch line and Annie and Clarabel. At the sheds, the big engines are shut up and they wished they hadn't been so naughty. After the story, Matt makes an astute observation that the tender engines' little job of shunting was still important as it enabled the passengers to catch their train. Mr. Conductor agrees and adds that the little jobs like cleaning are just as important. Before saying goodbye he mentions that his bicycle needs exercising, and if he doesn't ride it every day its handlebars would droop! Tanya and Matt visit Harry in the workshop and ask him to make stilts for them. Harry says he cannot make stilts exactly, but can make something similar, "elevator shoes" made from large tin cans and string. We next see Matt and Tanya walking around the arcade wearing the elevator shoes that Harry made for them. Stacy is surprised to see what they're wearing, and although mentioning that there's still a lot of work to do, takes a break to join the kids to watch a feature on the Picture Machine about working together. Later, Stacy is polishing the information booth while Matt and Tanya are on the floor drawing. Schemer arrives to ask if people paid any attention to his posters, but the answer is no. He shrugs it off by blaming it on the fact that he can't draw and proposes that the kids can draw the posters and he will hang them up, but the kids turn him down. Matt whispers something in Tanya's ear and they make a counter-proposal to Schemer; they'll give him their artwork only if his adverts are taken down. Matt and Tanya have drawn an elephant, which is initially not to Schemer’s liking. Schemer relents when Tanya tells him to either take it or leave it. He convinces them to add a slogan to their art: "Elephants are big, elephants are gray. Spend money." The kids agree and the episode closes with Schemer jumping up and down while trying to reach and take down a poster hanging over the station's main archway. Characters * Mr. Conductor * Schemer * Stacy * Harry * Tanya * Matt * Ed the Stilt Man * Henry (mentioned) * Gordon (mentioned) * James (mentioned) * Sir Topham Hatt (mentioned) Thomas Stories * Tenders and Turntables Thomas has gone to run his branch line and now the big engines have to fetch their own coaches. They are working harder than ever before and think they are too important for this. One day Gordon was not able to be turned on the turntable and he had to pull a train backward like a little tank engine. James was spun round and round, like a top on the turn table. Together the three big tender engines decided to go on strike. * Trouble in the Shed The big engines are on strike. So Sir Topham Hat gets Edward to help. The engines bully Edward for shunting because they don’t think tender engines should shunt. At that Sir Topham Hat goes to get a new tank engine. He chooses a green engine named Percy. Sir Topham Hat shuts the big engines up to have a lesson while Percy, Thomas, and Edward do all the work. Jukebox Band Segment Song * Pop Goes the Weasel Cartoons and Songs * Let's All Work Together *Cartoons used in the song: Trivia * The title is based on the Disney song of the same name. * This is the only episode where none of the members of the Juke Box Band sing a song. * Continuing his tradition of nicknames, Mr. Conductor uses "Tanya Savania" in this episode. * Schemer has put on a pair of glasses so that he could see the station clock more clearly. * Ed's overly long pants suddenly revert to normal pant leg size when the cut shot reveals that he is standing on stilts. * Eighteen years after this show was taped, Pluto would be removed from the list of planets in the solar system, making a total of 8, but if you followed Didi's lead and excluded Earth, you'd still be wrong. * US viewers may be confused by Edward's lament that he has 'gray wheels' in the story "Trouble in the Shed." This is because the line in the original UK version was 'black wheels,' which was a play on the word blackleg, which in turn is British slang for a strikebreaker. In this case, Edward was breaking the other tender engines' strike against Sir Topham Hatt. * Guest star Clinton Smith was at the time a member of a stilt dancing team known as "Friends in High Places." 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